The invention relates to a mortar mounted on a carrier vehicle, preferably of the armored type, wherein the recoil-return device of the mortar is integrated into the mortar's tube cradle.
A mortar of the above-mentioned type is known from German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,260,003, which relates to a mortar designed as a breech-loaded weapon on a light-weight carrier vehicle. The mortar is mounted on a rotary ring and is provided with an annular spring as the recoil-return device which encloses its tube over a given length.
This known arrangement has a few drawbacks. Initially, the design of the mortar as a breech-loaded weapon involves considerable structural expenditures, particularly in that region of the arrangement which is subject to the greatest stress. Additionally, an annular spring is able to handle only a relatively short return path. Consequently, if the weapon is mounted on a light-weight carrier vehicle, the caliber of the mortar has an annoying upper limit. Since the caliber essentially influences the recoil forces, if these recoil forces become too large, they lead to overstress on the annular spring with heavy surge-type stresses on the entire carrier with all the drawbacks involved therein. The caliber of the mortar according to the known arrangement must therefore not exceed a low maximum dimension. However, this limits the fire power in an annoying manner with respect to range as well as with respect to the damage effect of each individual shot.